Color me skeptical, but on the surface, this prediction seems hopelessly optimistic: according to the Consumer Electronics Association, Super Bowl XLIII is expected to drive the purchase of some 2.6 million HDTVs.
Buying an HDTV? Specifically for the Super Bowl? In a horrendous economy? Yeah, that was my reaction, too.
But maybe this is just a case of damn lies and statistics. A figure of 2.6 million HDTVs sounds like quite a bit, but according to the U.S. census, there were 217.8 million U.S. adults aged 18 and over in 2003 (oddly enough, the most recent figures for this particular breakdown I found on the U.S. Census Web site). That works out to just 1.1 percent of Americans buying an HDTV for the big game — probably less, given that the U.S. population has expanded since then.
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